Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum (白鶴美術館, Hakutsuru Bijutsukan) in Sumiyoshiyamate, Higashinada Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, opened in 1934 to show the East Asian art collected by Kano Jihei (1862–1951), seventh head of the Hakutsuru sake brewery, and its main building, office building, storehouse and Suan tea room were registered by the state on November 18, 1999 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each of the four was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1999.

According to the museum, Kano Jihei, who took the art name Kakuo, donated 500 works from his own collection to found the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum foundation in March 1931, and the galleries opened in May 1934. The holdings include Chinese bronzes, ceramics and silver, and Japanese sutra scrolls and paintings. A new wing for Middle Eastern carpets was added in October 1995, and the foundation became a public interest incorporated foundation in April 2010.

The four buildings carry the consecutive registration numbers 28-0057 to 28-0060, all registered as models of design. The new wing of 1995 is not part of the registration.

The Site and Its Four Buildings

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum sits on sloping ground on the right bank of the Sumiyoshi River, at the southern foot of the Rokko mountains. The main building stands on the upper side of the slope facing south, and the office building is near the entrance; a corridor 8 ken long joins the two (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The storehouse stands on the west side of this corridor, about halfway along, and the Suan tea room lies northwest of the office building, looking onto the courtyard between the main building and the office.

The Agency describes the main building and the office as steel-framed reinforced concrete; the main building takes the look of a temple, while the office borrows the plain lines of timber framing with exposed posts. The storehouse, by contrast, was built in traditional timber with thick earthen walls, as Kano Jihei insisted. Only the tea room is older: built in 1929 in the Rokko area, it was moved here in 1956 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each building has its own page.

In the courtyard stands a bronze lantern that has been there since about the opening; the Kobe Shimbun reports that it was cast from a mould taken directly from the octagonal lantern in front of the Great Buddha Hall at Todaiji. The same article notes that a bomb dropped near the museum during the war failed to explode, sparing the buildings serious damage.

Visiting the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum opens only for its spring and autumn exhibitions and closes between them (museum website). The 2026 autumn exhibition runs from September 26 to December 13, with hours from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (last entry 4:00 p.m.); the museum is closed on Mondays, or the following day when Monday is a public holiday.

Admission is 800 yen for adults, 500 yen for visitors aged 65 and over and for university and high school students, and 250 yen for junior high and elementary school students, with 20 percent off for groups of 20 or more (museum website).

From Mikage Station on the Hanshin Main Line or Sumiyoshi Station on the JR Kobe Line, take Kobe City Bus route 38 bound for Uzumoridai and get off at Hakutsuru Bijutsukan-mae. From Mikage Station on the Hankyu Kobe Line the museum is about 1 km to the northeast, roughly a 15-minute walk. A free car park for visitors holds 15 cars and 2 buses; large coaches are asked to call ahead. There are no ramps on the entrance path or the stairs inside, so the building is not barrier-free (museum website).

The museum's guidance does not say whether photography is allowed, and gives no information on entering the office building, storehouse or Suan tea room, or the courtyard; it is worth asking on arrival.